I love the passage from 1 John chapter 4 that says, He who does not love does not know God; for God is love. In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him.
I have found that too often people tend to read the passage with a sense of guilt. They have a tendency to read, “He who does not love does not know God,” as a statement that they must not be connected to God because they don’t fully love in all the ways that they should. It is a shame because it really is a complete misreading of the passage. Perhaps it would help if people read the first sentence in the following way, “If one loves, they know God; for God is love.”
This is affirmed in the second sentence, “In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him.” The message of the important scripture is that Christ came into the world so that we can live in His love. Instead of expecting us to have perfect love before we can know God, Christ came into the world for the specific reason of helping us to love. Living in Jesus means living in love and conversely, living in love means we are living in Jesus.
Lent is a time of preparation as we move closer and closer to the death and resurrection of Christ. There are things in all our lives that we need to turn over – to let die – so that we can truly experience the new life we have in Christ. If you have any sense of guilt, worry, or fear about your relationship with God – let it die during this season of Lent. Give up those emotions that weigh down your soul so that you might fully realize the life we have in Christ. He came to set us free from anything that would hold us back. The benefit is not only for us, the more we live in Christ, the more we live in Love. The more we live in His love, the better able we are to see the ways we can make a difference in the lives of those around us. While guilt and fear can slow us down at times, Christ came to remind us that through it all, love wins.
Dr. Bob Long, Senior Pastor
